Give Cheese a chanceIs there anything better than a grilled cheese sandwich? A cure for cancer would be nice. And I wouldn’t kick World Peace out of bed for eating crackers. But melted cheese and crispy bread? It’s so good, if it ran for President, I bet it’d beat Hillary and Obama (plus, it’s both likable and has experience – at least, as at being a sandwich).
In fact, the only thing better than a grilled cheese sandwich is the Grilled Cheese Invitational, an L.A.-based event dedicated to all things grilled and cheesy. And for the first time, this year the Bay Area’s gonna get its own shot at artery-clogging glory when the good GCI folks bring the competition to Eli’s Mile High Club on October 25.
Bread of dubious nutritional quality + cheese product of dubious dairy origin = sexy
It works like this. Pre-registered teams compete against each other on game day with their special recipes for sandwiches, choosing one of three categories: Missionary (only bread, butter, and cheese); Kama Sutra (for fancy schmancy vrsions like brie and figs on olive loaf); and Honey Pot (for the sweet ones, yo). Teams grill on the spot, and revelers vote for the winner in each category. Winners go home with trophies – and, of course, the respect of fellow freaks and hipsters everywhere.
Photo by Paynie.
The creators of the Americanized Killer Bee Sammich, who won third in the Honey Pot category at L.A. Grilled Cheese Invitational in February.
But wacky is as wacky does, and the GCI (at least, the one I attended in L.A., the Second 2nd Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational – and no, that wasn’t a typo) is wacky. Think teams like Big Cheese and Squeeze or Sweet Dreams are Made of Cheese making sandwiches called Cheesus Christ or Back Door Betty’s Sweet Revenge. Think matching outfits and spatula holsters. Think puns and irony and childlike glee, all served up with a side of dairy fat. And oh yeah, there’s also beer.
Writer/blogger Lucinda Michele's EZ Cheese cake.
See? It’s quite possibly the best idea ever invented. If founder Tim Walker could just host Grilled Cheese Invitationals around the world, I bet it would mean the end of genocide, war, poverty, and formal shorts.
So get your ass over to Oakland. If you can’t do it for yourself, do it for the starving children in Somalia. You think they’d complain about having to drive across the bridge? I didn’t think so.
Q: Is American cheese food or fashion? A: Both!
THE 1ST ANNUAL OAKLAND REGIONAL GRILLED CHEESE INVITATIONAL
October 25, 2007
8:30pm
Eli's Mile High Club
3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Oakland
www.grilledcheeseinvitational.com
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